What is SEO? And how does SEO work? SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of improving your website to rank higher in search engines. The goal is for your site to appear higher than competitors when someone searches for a keyword related to your business.
What Does Search Engine Optimization Do?
Search engine optimization works by making your website more visible to search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. If you rank highly, this means that people who are searching for what you offer will find your site before competitors’. For example, if someone is interested in buying a new cell phone or looking at reviews of different models—what are they going to do? They are probably going to search for “cell phone reviews” or “best cell phones” online. This is why it’s important that your website ranks highly in these types of searches, so you can reach this audience.
How Does Search Engine Optimization Help with Traffic and Rankings?
SEO helps boost traffic and rankings in two ways: on-page optimization and off-page optimization. On-page optimization includes everything you do to your website to make it more search engine friendly. This includes using the correct keywords, titles, descriptions, etc. Off-page optimization is the process of building links from other websites back to your site. When another website links to you, it’s like a vote of confidence. More links = more credibility. This is important because Google uses the number and quality of inbound links to your site as one factor when ranking websites—so this can help push you up higher than competitors who might not be optimizing their sites for search engines at all!
What Do Search Engines Look for When Determining Rankings?
Search engines like Google and Yahoo! look for a few specific things when ranking sites.
- Relevant keywords: Search engines want to send people to websites that are relevant to what they searched for online, so using the correct keywords is important (e.g., if someone searches “best cell phones,” you should include this in your website’s content).
- Quality content: This is one of the most important factors for ranking well. Search engines want to send people to websites with high-quality, relevant information. So make sure your website has great content that is useful and interesting to readers.
- Site speed: Another factor that search engines look at is how quickly your site loads. Make sure your website is optimized for fast loading times.
- User experience: The last thing that search engines look at is how users interact with your website. Make sure your site is easy to navigate and provides a good user experience. If people hate using your site, it will rank lower in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Now you have the basics for understanding how search engine optimization works. For more guidance on SEO practices, speak with SEO Guru Atlanta about our SEO services in Atlanta.
Want to jumpstart your SEO efforts? Read: The Most Important Local SEO Strategies to Grow Your Business.
